After a decade of illegal wars, lack of accountability,
government secrecy and embedded journalists, the
WikiLeaks release of classified State Department
cables has given the public a much-needed look
at the inner workings of our government.
Having wrested secrets into the public domain
on a scale without precedent, Wikileaks is a great
gift to a democracy that thrives on an informed
citizenry. While the leaks have been an embarrassment
to the U.S. government, they have not jeopardized
our security. Nevertheless, U.S. politicians have
called for harsh actions to be taken to shut down
WikiLeaks' operations and indict founder Julian
Assange.
The vicious intimidation campaign against WikiLeaks
is a dangerous attack on freedom of expression,
freedom of the press and the rights of us—the
citizens—to critical information about our government's
actions. We urgently need a massive public outcry
to defend WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning. And we
must honor their sacrifices by using this information
to stop the wars and the abuses our government
is perpetrating in our name.
